Ward 14 — Toronto-Danforth

Toronto-Danforth is a predominantly residential east-end ward stretching from the Don River east to Coxwell Avenue, bisected by the Danforth — Toronto's original Greek commercial strip and one of its most walkable main streets. The ward takes in Riverdale, Playter Estates, Greektown, Broadview North, and other portions of the former East York. With a population of roughly 120,000, it combines Victorian-era housing stock south of the Danforth with modest mid-century bungalows and semis to the north. The ward has a strong tradition of progressive politics and civic engagement: the federal riding was represented by Jack Layton from 2004 until his death in 2011 and has been held by the Liberals since Julie Dabrusin won it in 2015. Councillor Paula Fletcher, who represented the ward since 2003, was one of council's most experienced left-leaning voices.

Chow won Toronto-Danforth with 51.9 percent of the vote (19,560), her second-highest share after Toronto Centre and the second-largest absolute margin in the city at 10,380 votes over Bailão's 24.4 percent (9,180). The ward's connection to Chow was personal as well as political — she and Layton had lived in the area, and many residents had known her since her days as a Metro Toronto councillor in the 1990s. Matlow placed third with 5.2 percent, and Saunders took 4.6 percent. The ward's 37,692 total votes represented robust turnout for a by-election, and Chow's dominance extended to all vote types: she led among advance, election-day, and mail-in voters alike.

Municipal Issues

The Ontario Line's planned route through the ward was the single most contentious local issue. Metrolinx's decision to run the new subway line along a surface corridor through the Riverside and Leslieville neighbourhoods — rather than tunnelling beneath Pape Avenue as community groups preferred — had sparked years of opposition. Residents feared the noise, visual intrusion, and property impacts of an above-grade transit line running through established residential streets. The Pape station area was also slated for major intensification, raising concerns about the pace of change in a neighbourhood that prized its low-rise, walkable character.

The Danforth commercial strip, while culturally beloved, had struggled with rising commercial rents and vacancies even before the pandemic accelerated the decline of street-level retail. Restaurants and independent shops that had defined the strip for decades faced pressure from both e-commerce competition and landlords seeking higher-paying tenants. The by-election coincided with renewed community efforts to support the Danforth through BIA-led initiatives and pedestrianization experiments. Fletcher's long tenure as councillor had shaped the ward's relationship with City Hall, and her progressive record on transit, housing, and development set the baseline against which voters evaluated mayoral candidates.